Curious about your opinion...

<p>Hello, everyone! I am completely new to this forum and this is my first post on CC :) I was wondering what you thought:</p>

<p>Since I don't know what I want my major to be, I really want to enroll to Liberal Arts college. Those don't exist where I live, so I want to go overseas. But my biggest worries are finances; there is NO WAY my parents nor I could afford an American college (or uni) with our money, but I really want to attend a college there. And thus, I will need a full-ride :(</p>

<p>I go to toughest sort of high school available in my country (we can't choose classes, but can choose which high school to enroll) and my GPA has always been around 4.9 out of 5</p>

<p>Last year I got a scholarship to attend independent American secondary school for one year (it's non-extendable scholarship)and I took 1 honors class (Physics), and 1 AP class (Calc) (back then I had no clue what they exactly meant, I just wanted some tougher courses) out of 6 in total. My GPA there was 4.0 UW, 4.1 W.</p>

<p>So I got a college counselor in that school and she told me to ask teachers for recommendations. Which I did, and I am sure they'll be quite nice since teachers always wrote really nice things about me in my grade reports as well.</p>

<p>My SAT scores are just... baaaad. :( The morning I had to take it, I got a stomach virus and ended up scoring 550 CR, 600 M, 590 W. I think I can do much better than this so I will definitely retake it. All because I didn't take the testings seriously (I still wasn't sure if I'd apply). I will retake math, and take Japanese with listening in November, and maybe Italian. </p>

<p>Extracurriculars:</p>

<p>Significant Extracurriculars: Awarded with one-year full scholarship to a private secondary American school. Photography: workshops (also awarded free due to my prior work), exhibitions. Entering 4th year in high school newspapers. Theatre for 4 years, entering 5th if it didn't dissolve while I was in US :(
- peer tutoring</p>

<p>Leadership positions: - official photographer and assistant editor in newspapers</p>

<p>Athletic Status - list sport and your level: in US:
- I tried Field Hockey (JV) and Fencing (non-competitive), really liked fencing!</p>

<p>home:
- yoga</p>

<p>Volunteer/Service Work: Louisiana post-Catrina recovery in March 2007
- theatre house manager for 3 nights (does this count as volunteering?)</p>

<p>Honors and Awards: while in US:
- Highest Honor Roll
- Student of the month
- Award at the end of year for outstanding Junior</p>

<p>back home:
- photography chosen to be a poster for exhibition (shown all over the country)
- third on English comp. in my region</p>

<p>I am biracial, my mom is Asian, dad European. So far I have lived in 4 countries. I speak 3 languages fluently, and studying 2 more, and used to learn Latin, too. I am also Mensa member and I scored 607 on TOEFL last October.
My biggest dream is to attend Yale. (I know, WAAAAAY reach)
Among the other schools, I really like Cornell, Swarthmore, WUSTL (all reaches, so I gotta work on finding matches and safeties)</p>

<p>I really want tough coursework, and if I improve my SAT scores, do you think I have realistic chances in getting into top schools?</p>

<p>Take the SATs again and see what you get. No sense making any plans until you get a reliable score.</p>

<p>That sounds reasonable. I will come back with my updated scores then! :)
Thanks</p>

<p>Boho: I had a similar situation 35 years ago! The boy next to me during the SAT threw up... ON ME... during the second test. I was not permitted to leave my seat, or go clean up and come back in. It was finish or forget it. I finished, but scored only 1000 on the test. Retook it 4 months later (it wasn't offered as often then), and scored over 1500. Relax.</p>

<p>Oh wow :( That must have been ROUGH! :/ You had even worse time than I did!
But also sounds very comforting! Thank you for sharing your story :)</p>